The Minds and Traditions research group (“the Mint”), an Independent Max Planck Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena (Germany) is offering two grants for two doctoral projects focusing on “cognitive science and cultural evolution of visual culture and graphic codes“. Funding is available for four years (three years renewable twice for six months), starting in September 2016. The PhD students will be expected to take part in a research project devoted to the cognitive science and cultural evolution of graphic codes. If interested, please send a motivation letter (maximum two pages) to the group’s principal investigator, Olivier Morin (morin@shh.mpg.de) by March the 21st, 2016.

The complete call in pdf format can be found here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8432426/Mint-PhD-call.pdf

Research in cultural and linguistic evolution is growing rapidly. New scholars need to quickly grasp a range of computational and quantitative methods from across different disciplines, to learn to organise and present data, and to critically evaluate the right approaches for their research. Recognising a need for interdisciplinary training from within the field, the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History will be holding its first Spring School on Quantitative Methods from May 13th-18th 2016. Applications are due March 1st.

Starting date: The position is available from May 2016 onwards, but later start dates are possible.

Description: The PhD project will investigate the role of individual differences in human and animal collective behaviours, including group formation, group coordination and conflict resolution. It will involve experiments with human crowds using GPS tracking devices & video tracking, virtual interactive platforms and simulations. Limited work on animal groups (e.g., fish) is also possible. We seek a PhD student with a strong empirical background and excellent skills in (spatial) data analysis. Programming skills are a bonus.

The Center for Adaptive Rationality at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de) is a highly interdisciplinary and international research group where English is the working language. We offer an excellent infrastructure including support staff and equipment for conducting experiments (e.g., behavioural laboratory, GPS tracking and supercomputers).

The predoctoral contract is for three years. Applications (consisting of a cover letter describing your research interests, a CV, up to two publications, and two letters of recommendation) should be sent as a single PDF file, with your name as the file name, to Monika Oppong (oppong@mpib-berlin.mpg.de; Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin).

Applications will be considered until the position is filled. Application review will begin on February 1, 2016 but applications after this date will be considered equally. For further inquiries about the position, please contact Ralf Kurvers (kurvers@mpib-berlin.mpg.de).

Join the live webcast! “Origins of Genus Homo” is the topic of a free public symposium hosted by the UCSD/Salk Center for Academic Research & Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA) on Friday, Feb 5th (1:00 – 5:30 pm PT), co-chaired by Steven Churchill (Duke Univ) and Philip Rightmire (Harvard Univ).

Despite discoveries of remarkable new fossils in recent years, the evolutionary events surrounding the origins of genus Homo are incompletely understood. This CARTA symposium explores evidence bearing on the emergence of our genus, focusing on possible antecedents to Homo, changes in diet and body form as Australopithecus evolved toward Homo, ancient species within the genus, and evolutionary processes likely operating 2.5 – 1.5 million years ago.

The Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University Bloomington has multiple five-year graduate student fellowships available to study the evolution of human cognition. Research areas include cognitive aspects of human technological and behavioral evolution, evolution of expertise, evolution of the human brain, language evolution, and how evolved minds create and navigate cultural spaces. Training opportunities include experimental archaeology and fieldwork, brain imaging and fMRI, computational modeling and simulation, and other aspects of cognitive science. An interdisciplinary seminar with frequent visiting experts and international workshops and outreach are also part of this initiative. Applications are due by January 8, 2016.

Chapter proposals are invited for an edited book titled “Cognition and Communication in Extraterrestrial Intelligence.” Contributions are invited from a range of disciplines including but not limited to biology, linguistics, psychology, ethology, artificial intelligence, computer science, cognitive semiotics, philosophy, and communications. Chapters should focus on the possible nature of cognition and/or communication of intelligence – either biological or artificial – that may exist elsewhere in the galaxy.

Interested authors should send a 400-word abstract, 200-word biography, and sample of a previously published chapter or article to Douglas Vakoch at dvakoch@setiinternational.org by January 15, 2016.

We are seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project titled “On the origins and persistence of gender: combining evolutionary and economic approaches to study sex differences and cultural variations“.

The project is a collaboration between Scientia Professor Rob Brooks (Evolution, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences UNSW), Associate Professor Pauline Grosjean (Economics, UNSW Business School) and Professor Paul Seabright (Institute of Advanced Studies, Toulouse). Both Brooks and Grosjean are members of UNSW’s Evolution & Ecology Research Centre (E&ERC).Read more

A postdoctoral position is available in Dr. Athena Aktipis’s lab for individuals with a PhD in Psychology, Biology, Economics, Anthropology, Mathematics, Computer Science or related discipline who have interests and experience in cooperation theory. To be eligible for these positions, applicants must have training in either human laboratory experiments. Other desired qualifications include training in statistical analysis, demography, as well as evolutionary tools and methods.Read more

The Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis invites applicants for an Open Position/Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Human Behavioral Ecology & Cultural Evolution. For full consideration applicants should submit full set of materials by November 2, 2015: a curriculum vitae; cover letter that indicates completed research, current research program and teaching experience; copies of up to three (3) publications representing current research; and the contact information for three (3) references through the online application system found at: https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/apply/JPF00650.

The successful candidate must have an active research program focusing on the evolutionary dimensions of human behavior. We seek candidates whose research addresses human life history, technology, social, economic, subsistence, or political systems and/or patterns of cultural change from an explicitly evolutionary perspective, with a preference for researchers combining field-based ethnography or cross-cultural data analysis with evolutionary modeling. Candidates who bring quantitative skills in statistical analysis to the training of students across our integrated evolutionary wing will be particularly competitive. Applicants must demonstrate exceptional promise as scholars and teachers, and must have completed a Ph.D. in Anthropology prior to September 2016.

The successful candidate will run the human behavioral ecology/cultural evolutionary lab group. Teaching duties include four courses per academic year (quarter system) at the introductory, advanced undergraduate, and graduate level. Courses will include (a selection from) upper division courses in Economic Anthropology and/or Kinship and Marriage, a graduate seminar in Foraging Theory, Human Life Histories and/or Modelling Social Behavior, introductory courses in Human Life Cycle and/or Human Nature, and our large introductory course Human Evolutionary Biology.

The School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University invites applications for an assistant professor to join our world-leading program in evolutionary social science. We seek applicants with exceptional scholarly potential for advancing our understanding of human uniqueness, most especially those with ethnographic or genetic expertise. Minimum qualifications include a Ph.D. in Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology, or related field by the time the appointment starts, a strong record of research on the interactions between human biology and culture that is grounded in evolutionary theory, and potential for achieving high levels of research productivity and impact. Specific research topic, approach, methods, and region are open, and the candidate’s program of research may be focused in deep or more recent times, including with contemporary societies. Anticipated start date is August 2016. Application deadline is November 15, 2015.

Additional desired qualifications include evidence of success in obtaining external funding, classroom and online teaching experience, experience mentoring and supporting students, collaborative experiences with an interdisciplinary research team, and capacity to cross-teach and mentor students in anthropology and other programs offered across the School such as global health, applied mathematics, or environmental social science, and specific expertise in ethnographic fieldwork, field or laboratory studies in genetics and/or human behavior.

Specific job duties include conducting collaborative field and/or laboratory research in evolutionary social science, presenting research findings in peer-reviewed scholarly outlets, seeking external research funding, instructing, training and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, providing service to the university and academy, and outreach such as providing expert advice and the public communication of science.

Application deadline is November 15, 2015. If not filled, reviews will occur every week and thereafter until the search is closed. Applicants must apply online at https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/6228 and include a letter of application, curriculum vitae, and the names and email addresses of three references. Please make sure your last name appears in each uploaded file name. Please address your cover letter to Professor Robert Boyd, Evolutionary Anthropology Search Committee Chair. A background check is required for employment.

/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HBES-banner13.png00Academic Web Pages/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HBES-banner13.pngAcademic Web Pages2015-09-19 11:01:382019-01-06 18:42:51Assistant Professor position at Arizona State University